Banking Industry Bailout

[sneekula]

What do you think about bailing out the top slime at the banks, so they can carry home their million dollar bonuses at taxpayer's expense?

[techbound]

I think that if they can get away with it.........they will.

[GrimJack]

AP study finds $1.6B went to bailed-out bank execs - and they can't tell us where the other 333billion went!

While everyone was whingeing about loaning money to the auto industry, the bankers were in bed with Bushies - stealing us blind.

[vmanes]

If I did my job as poorly as it seems the bank and auto execs are doing, that is, if 80+ students a term end up knowing less than when they started the term (which often isn't much), would I be getting a bonus and keeping my job? I think not.

Apparently the entitlement mentality exists at both ends of the spectrum.

Help a needy executive!
(apologies if this has already been posted, I can't remember where I first saw it linked.)

[sneekula]

If I did my job as poorly as it seems the bank and auto execs are doing, that is, if 80+ students a term end up knowing less than when they started the term (which often isn't much), would I be getting a bonus and keeping my job? I think not.

Apparently the entitlement mentality exists at both ends of the spectrum.

Help a needy executive!
(apologies if this has already been posted, I can't remember where I first saw it linked.)

The ultimate donate your money commercial!

[sneekula]

It looks more and more like the first $300,000,000,000 of the US financial bailout went to friends of Hank Paulson without any trace. Bush has triumphed again!

[Ene Uran]

Just heard in the financial news:
The total of bad loans of the Royal Bank of Scotland is equal to the annual revenue of England. That's just one bank.

[vegaseat]

In the news:
Citicorp Bank just bought a new corporate jet for $50 million with some of their bailout money.

[Ene Uran]

According to former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, the US housing bubble accounted for up to 70% of GDP growth in recent years. This bubble of high risk junk mortgages drove up housing prices and was nothing but virtual/fake value.

[Ancient Dragon]

In the news:
Citicorp Bank just bought a new corporate jet for $50 million with some of their bailout money.

due to bad publicity and public outcry that jet was cancelled.

I hope Obama makes those bankers pay back every penny or put them in prison for the remainder of their miserable lives.

[GrimJack]

due to bad publicity and public outcry that jet was cancelled.

I hope Obama makes those bankers pay back every penny or put them in prison for the remainder of their miserable lives.

Now they are leasing them.

Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf: $850,000
Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit: $1
Morgan Stanely CEO John Mack: $800,000
State Street Corp. CEO Ronald Logue: $1 million
Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis: $1.5 million
Bank of New York CEO Robert Kelly: $1 miillion
JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon: $1 million
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankenfein: $600,000

The Huffington Post reports that bailed-out financial firms Morgan Stanley and Citigroup’s Smith Barney — which will soon merge — plan to reward their financial advisers with “very generous” cash bonuses. During an internal conference call last week, advisers were warned not to call the awards bonuses because it would cause a PR headache:

“There will be a retention award. Please do not call it a bonus,” said James Gorman, co-president of Morgan Stanley. “It is not a bonus. It is an award. And it recognizes the importance of keeping our team in place as we go through this integration.”

Gorman said that the payments would be “based on performance numbers from 2008 instead of 2009,” which “virtually guarantees an increase in the size of the awards.” On the call, Gorman said that the advisers should be “clapping” at the “very generous and thoughtful” announcement. Listen to the audio here.

[vegaseat]

Retention Award needed for paying customers too!

[sneekula]

These are bailouts done when 'Bush the Smaller' was US President:

$152 billion Bush stimulus package in the spring of 2008
$700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in the fall of 2008
$200 billion to nationalize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
$42 billion for the Big Three auto manufacturers
$29 billion for Bear Stearns
$150 billion for AIG
$350 billion for Citigroup
$300 billion for the Federal Housing Administration Rescue Bill
$87 billion to pay back JPMorgan Chase for bad Lehman Brothers trades
$200 billion to banks under the Federal Reserve's Term Auction Facility (TAF)
$50 billion to short-term corporate IOUs held by money market mutual funds
$500 billion to rescue various credit markets
$620 billion for other industrial nations
like the Bank of Canada, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, National Bank of
Denmark, European Central Bank, Bank of Norway, Reserve Bank of Australia,
Bank of Sweden, and Swiss National Bank
$120 billion in aid for emerging markets
like the central banks of Brazil, Mexico, South Korea, and Singapore
trillions to guarantee the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's
expanded bank deposit insurance coverage from $100,000 to $250,000
$500 billion in Fed purchases of asset-backed securities
plus trillions more for other sweeping guarantees.

Grand total: Liabilities for the US taxpayer of over $9 trillion!

[sneekula]

In the Banking News:
The Swiss bank UBS, one of the largest banks in the world, has agreed to pay a fine of $780,000,000 to the US government. They admitted that over the last eight years they have helped very wealthy US citizens to move large sums of money into Switzerland in order to avoid paying US taxes. I guess the Bush taxcuts for the rich weren't good enough! UBS has also agreed to reveal the names of those rich scumbags. These folks could be due billions of Dollars in back-taxes.

[sneekula]

The myth that you ought to own your house and improve it all the time has made banks rich. However, if there is an economic downturn, it makes life miserable for many home owners.
1. Many homes are now of less value than their mortgage.
2. Lose your job and you are stuck in the location, can't sell the thing.
3. People that have used the home equity as a piggy bank are in a mess.
4. Property taxes on your home will likely increase, as states run out of money.

Folks that rented can easily move to where the few jobs are.
You might want to read up on very timely ideas that the futurist Richard Florida has published. Just Google and though shall find.

[sneekula]

The total outstanding credit card debt in the US is equal to its GDP.

Much of the taxpayer money given to AIG is used to help foreign banks, AIG keeps this list secret.

[vegaseat]

Last fall, Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis made a startling discovery: Merrill Lynch — the giant his bank was in the process of acquiring — was in far worse shape than he had imagined.

Lewis told former Treasury Secretary Paulson and Fed Chairman Bernanke that he wanted to back out of the merger with Merrill. According to Lewis, Paulson and Bernanke tacitly threatened to fire him and his entire board of directors if they backed out. This move cost US taxpayers an estimated 45 billion Dollars.